Las Vegas Lights FC is hosting Sacramento Republic FC on Friday in Round One of the 2024 USL Championship Playoffs. Here is everything you need to know:
WHEN AND WHERE: Kickoff is at 7:30 p.m. PT at Cashman Field (TICKETS).
WHERE TO WATCH: The match will be televised locally on SSSEN and FOX5, and streamed nationally on ESPN+ (subscription required).
2024 RECORDS AND STANDINGS: Lights: 13-10-11 (50 points, 4th West), Republic: 13-11-10 (49 points, 5th West)
FORM GUIDE (all competitions, most recent first): Las Vegas: LLWDW, Sacramento: LLDDL
PREVIOUS MEETINGS: The Lights swept the season series with Sacramento this year, initially recording their first away win at Sacramento in club history with a 1-0 win in July before downing Republic FC 2-1 at Cashman Field on Sept. 21.
PLAYOFF FORMAT: Sixteen teams, eight from each conference, compete in a single-elimination tournament. Click HERE to learn more.
MAKING HISTORY: Las Vegas will not only appear in the USL Championship postseason for the first time, but Head Coach Dennis Sanchez’s squad will also play the franchise’s inaugural home playoff match.
KHORI COOKING: Lights forward Khori Bennett finished the regular season with 14 goals, which tied for fifth in the league. He was also just one back of Las Vegas’s club record for a single season.
TOUGH END OF SEASON: Both the Lights and Republic FC will have wanted to finish their regular season campaigns on better footing as they head into the playoffs. Las Vegas dropped back-to-back contests for the first time since early May. Sacramento, meanwhile, enters winless in its last five and recorded just one victory in its last eight (1-5-2).
DEFENSIVELY SOUND: Sacramento boasted one of the USL Championship’s premier defenses this year, conceding just 34 times, which was third in the league and first in the Western Conference. They’re led by goalkeeper Danny Vitiello, who lead the league in clean sheets with 14.
PLAYER TO WATCH: Kieran Phillips, F
Phillips leads the team in goals with 12 and has added three assists to boot. The Englishman enters the postseason with three goals in his last five appearances.
WHAT THEY’RE SAYING
Las Vegas Lights FC Head Coach Dennis Sanchez
On being part of the first postseason team in Lights history…
I’m so proud of the guys. We’ve been talking about process all year long. We would have preferred to finish it out a little but stronger, but at the same point, the last two games have been really good learning opportunities for us heading into the playoffs. The biggest thing for us is to continue to do what we did all year, have unity, have belief in what we’re trying to achieve, and the guys are ready to go.
On lessons learned from the last two losses…
Against Oakland, we were caught in transition a little bit, so I thought we did a much better job against North Carolina. But then against North Carolina, we gave up two set piece goals. There’s going to be a heightened awareness moving forward on dead-ball situations. There are a lot of different ways you can score goals and ways you can concede goals. We just have to make sure that our concentration is right.
On the keys to victory against Sacramento Republic…
They’re a former club of mine. I have so much respect for [Head Coach] Mark Briggs and [President and General Manager] Todd Dunivant and what they’ve built there. They’re a winning club, and there’s a reason why they’ve made the playoffs and achieved what they have over the last five to six years. We fortunately beat them twice this year, which in some ways puts more pressure on us. We’ll look back at those games and what we did well and areas we can improve upon. The guys are full of confidence. We’re going to respect the opponent, but at the same time have the confidence and humility to come out and perform at our level.